US News Labour leadership: Jeremy Corbyn's successor looks set to be a woman with five names in the frame

DAN HODGES: Boris Johnson is taking a beating... but Jeremy Corbyn will step forward to save him this week

DAN HODGES:The Prime Minister should hold his nerve. Because a man on a white charger may be about to come riding to his rescue. A man by the name of Jeremy Corbyn. © Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited 'Corbyn had better watch himself,' one MP tells me. 'I'm going to keep my head down for the next couple of weeks. But when reselection is out of the way, they can't touch me. And then I'm coming for him'. The Labour leader is pictured on Friday in Fife, Scotland The Labour Party conference starts this week in Brighton. With the Government in disarray, it should be the moment for the Opposition to pounce.

Mr Corbyn ’ s closest ally, John McDonnell, has argued that the next leader should be female and four of the five leading names in the frame are Ms Thornberry irritated Corbyn loyalists by telling thousands of Labour activists at People' s Vote rally in Brighton that “the members must be heard

Jeremy Corbyn must be wishing there was some way he could prorogue his own conference First there would be a general election, in which Labour would triumph; that hypothesis Corbyn was Why does only the deputy leadership have to reflect diversity? Why not run every role in the party as a

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Jeremy Corbyn’s successor looks set to be a woman unless Sir Keir Starmer can resist the overwhelming pressure for Labour to elect its first female leader. After winning two overwhelming victories in leadership contests, Mr Corbyn’s position looked unassailable when the party gathered in Liverpool in 2018.

Things have changed this year in Brighton. When delegates are not wrangling over their Brexit stance, they are agonising over who will take over when he steps down. Many believe that day could soon be upon them if Labour loses the general election likely to take place within months.

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Yesterday Mr Corbyn vowed to respect whatever the party decides today. If the Labour boss loses tonight it would be a huge blow to his authority as The man who wrote Labour ' s last manifesto said he would resign this year, with a blast on the "blizzard of lies" in the party and attacking senior figures

Jeremy Corbyn ' s Brexit bungling has been compared to attempts by the Soviet Union to cover up And Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan savaged Mr Corbyn ’ s lack of leadership as he warned that Another Labour source told The Sun: “It is going to be a bloodbath on the conference floor tomorrow.”

Bookies' favourite

© Provided by Johnston Publishing Ltd Mr Corbyn’s closest ally, John McDonnell, has argued that the next leader should be female and four of the five leading names in the frame are women - Emily Thornberry, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Angela Rayner and Laura Pidcock. However, Sir Keir is narrowly the bookies’ favourite and is being championed by soft-left MPs as their best hopes of steering the party away from the political ground staked out by Corbyn supporters.

The struggle for the Labour crown will come down to a battle between conflicting visions of the party’s future and reflect the divisions which have opened in Labour ranks over Brexit. Both Sir Keir, the shadow Brexit Secretary, and Ms Thornberry, the shadow Foreign Secretary, have been unashamed in breaking with Mr Corbyn by insisting they would campaign for a Remain vote in a second referendum in all circumstances.

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Keir Starmer has admitted he was “disappointed” Labour’s conference voted against committing the party now to backing Remain in a second referendum, but predicted it was “obvious” the party membership would eventually do so. Jeremy Corbyn survived a Labour revolt over Brexit on Monday when the conference backed his policy of remaining neutral until after a general election.

The Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn began when Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Leader of the UK Labour Party in September 2015

The Labour boss' leadership was plunged into fresh chaos on the eve of their party conference after head of policy Jeremy Corbyn ' s top aide Andrew Fisher is set to quit his job. Eurosceptic Tories who won't back Boris' Brexit deal ' to be kicked out party'. Mr Corbyn told the Sunday Mirror there

Corbyn loyalists irritated

Ms Thornberry irritated Corbyn loyalists by telling thousands of Labour activists at People's Vote rally in Brighton that “the members must be heard, because this is what democracy looks like”. While Ms Thornberry has won admirers for her colourful speaking style, Sir Keir struggles to scale the rhetorical heights.

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Both could suffer - like Mr Corbyn - from representing seats in North London far removed politically and demographically from the party’s historic heartlands in the North of England and the Midlands. The Corbyn team has spent the last two years building up the profile of Ms Long-Bailey, the Shadow Business Secretary, as the contender best placed to continue his work of repositioning the party.

Dark horse candidate

They also argue that the Salford and Eccles MP would provide a striking contrast with Old Etonian Boris Johnson. Among Corbynistas Ms Pidcock, the shadow business minister who has only been an MP for two years, is the dark horse candidate whose chances would steadily improve the longer the Labour leader remains in post.

© Reuters Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn Ms Rayner, the shadow Education Secretary, has been touted as a leader-in-waiting but the consensus in Labour ranks is that her prospects have slightly faded. But she could emerge as a compromise choice who appeals to Corbyn loyalists and sceptics alike.